


The Old Switcheroo

by miserlou, skyshines



Category: Homestuck
Genre: All is as it should be, All ofthem, Dirk has issues, Dirk is basically an IT program, Hal has issues, Hal is human, Hal named them, Jake hates Dirk, Other, So many seagulls, Their issues are compatible, just fuck me up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 21:24:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8683882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miserlou/pseuds/miserlou, https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyshines/pseuds/skyshines
Summary: 16 year old Hal Strider has lived alone his whole life, apart from the seagulls and his internet friends. He built robots, made computer programs, and watched the fuck out of his 2001 Space Odyssey VHS. He was a genius in his own right, but never put his intelligence to any use.Then he got bored.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hexaS](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hexaS/gifts).



> I'm so sorry for my swine

"Dave I swear to god, you bread whore, if you take another piece of bread from Frank I'm going to beat your feathered ass."

The seagull looked at the teenage boy with its black, beady eyes.

"I'm serious, Dave." Hal Strider glares at the feathered asshole, holding the stale bread rations to his chest- this bird would get the food over his dead body. His shades  
made soft pinging sounds as he received messages, but he ignored it. The important thing was his seagulls. His duty to care for them came first and foremost.

Okay, that was a lie. He was just avoiding answering his messages.

His shades pinged again, and he sighed. He didn't feel like answering Roxy's questions; not that he didn't appreciate her, he just really hated talking about his feelings. And these days it seemed that his feelings were all anyone was worried about.

Feelings were for dweebs, anyways.

He threw a few more crumbs to his wards, before he turned and climbed back down the stairs to his cluttered apartment. He finally checked his messages. Two from Jake, six from Roxy, one from Jane. One from an unknown chumhandle. Yeah, no, he wasn't planning on opening those any time soon.

The gangly teen flopped himself down in his computer chair. He checked the source code for one of his projects, or rather he rechecked it. For the fifth time.

More cryptic comments had been left between the lines of code. Most of them were just stray curse words- definitely plausible that he had just been strung out enough to forget he wrote them. But a few things, such as "Resistance is futile," and even "If you do this again, so help me god I will turn this car around, Hal," made him consider that he was going crazy.

That, or someone was hacking into his code and got past TRA- his self servicing maintenance bot. (He gave himself a little pat on the back for that project- it was genius, really.)

Hal scowled from behind his red shades. He pulled them off to rub at his eyes. Better not think about it now, he told himself. Save it for later.

He looked at the clock as he slid his shades back on and everything shifted back into a scarlet hue. He sighed. His routine was right in time. Now was when he ate, when he could pull himself from his work long enough. Ugh. He wasn't even hungry- he'd stolen a few breadcrumbs for himself when he fed the kids. But nevertheless, he hauled himself up into the kitchen.

Time to continue his everyday mundane bullshit while the waves lapped softly against the side of his apartment. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend that nothing was wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> I swear to god this is gonna have substance im so sorry


End file.
